Respawn: Rise of Herobrine
by Jangling Bacon
Summary: The first in a series. Steve, your average player, is attacked by a strange entity who calls himself Herobrine. Steve must unite all the other player to destroy this evil mob…but will they tear each other apart first?


Disclaimer: "Liking is probably the best form of ownership, and ownership the worst form of liking."

― José Saramago

Summary: The first in a series. Steve, your average player, is attacked by a strange entity who calls himself Herobrine. Steve must unite all the other player to destroy this evil mob…but will they tear each other apart first?

I got stir crazy. This came to me.

* * *

Respawn: Rise of Herobrine

* * *

Steve looked over the landscape as the faint sounds of battle reached his ears. The entire server was constantly at war with itself, fighting to gain control. Outside his castle gates, he watched as players fought. As one player killed the other, the other respawned and destroyed his already weakened opponent in an endless cycle. He sighed and drew his diamond sword, donning a diamond chestplate as well as his golden helmet, a symbol that he was the strongest. He descended the stairs, ready to clear out the masses. By sword, or by redstone contraption, if need be. As he rounded the corner of his winding staircase, he caught a glimpse of purple, swirling particles.

_Enderman_, he thought grimly. He switched from his sword to an ever-present bucket of water in his inventory. As he saw another flash of purple, he prepared to empty his bucket—but faltered when he realized that there was no Enderman. Instead, another player smiled coldly at him.

_Impossible_, he thought. _No player could get past the walls._ Then he began noticing small details. The player carried no weapons whatsoever. He had the untucked shirt of a zombie and was surrounded by purple particles like an Enderman. His eyes were white, but not a cheerful, bright light. They were a dead white, like freshly stripped bone.

"Who are you?" Steve asked. "How did you get in here?"

"I am…Herobrine," came the hissed reply. "And…I am everywhere." To demonstrate, Herobrine disappeared and reappeared behind Steve. Steve was slammed down through the stairs and collapsed, a haze of red filling his gaze before he died.

* * *

When Steve respawned, his inventory was empty. His diamond sword, armor, helmet…all gone. He could rebuild them, but the frsutrating part was that he had no more answers. Who was Herobrine? How could he teleport? How could he attack so hard without a _Smite_ or _Knockback_ enchanted weapon? How could he teleport without ender pearls? He sent a message to all the other players.

'Everyone, meet me at the ocean cave. Come armed.' He would get his answers soon enough.

* * *

When Steve entered the underwater cavern, the other players were already fighting. Swords were not yet drawn, but shouts echoed through the cave.

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE!" Steve bellowed, slamming his sword on the table. The shouts died down. Steve was the oldest on the server, and strongest, earning him much respect.

"I need answers. Today, I was attacked by some sort of mob," he continued. "It called itself Herobrine. Anyone heard of it?"

"Obviously not, keep going!" shouted ipwnuall, another player called after a brief silence.

"Well, it apparently can teleport," several gasps of surprise, "and has some sort of enhanced knockout ability. It killed me in one hit."

"Then how are you here?" asked plsdontkill, a noob to the game. There were several withering glares. "Oh yeah. My bad."

"I have no idea if this 'Herobrine' is some sort of bug or glitch, but I've sacrificed a cow to Notch without a reply. It looks like we're on our own." Steve gave one long look around the table.

"Well, I'm out of here," Lopez, an old-timer, said. "Every player for himself!"

"We can't hope to beat this guy alone!" called crazygamer. "He took out Steve in one hit!"

"Yeah, we don't even know where this guy lives!" put in Minecraft4Eva.

"Actually," Steve said. "I do." He threw a map on the table. "The reason I was late is because I was doing some scouting. I found his castle. We can't win on our own, and it looks like Herobrine's got the hostile mobs on his side."

"It's hopeless!" some wailed. A few signed out.

"WE CAN BEAT THIS GUY TOGETHER!" Steve shouted over the hubbub. But there was too much fear already. Some wanted to surrender. Others wanted to fight on their own. Still more were for abandoning the server. Steve slumped back. They would never be able to unite. Suddenly, he saw the swirl of purple particles and a shimmer in the air.

"Enderman!" he shouted, flipping backwards over the back of his seat and grabbing a bucket of water. The shouting ceased as players drew swords or tools, while others followed Steve's lead and equipped water. With its tell-tale whoosh as empty air was filled, an Enderman stood in the middle of the table. In its long arms, it held a glowing blue creeper. A lightning charged creeper.

"RUN!" Steve cried as he dove for the door. Too late. The Enderman disappeared and with a boom, the creeper exploded. Anyone not instantly vaporized was suffocated by gravel or sand, or drowned as water rushed through the empty doorway. Even more fell through the pit formed and were heavily damaged or killed. Altogether, almost eighty players were killed. Everyone at the meeting died. When Steve respawned, there was a single message from the others.

'We're in.'

* * *

Seventy-nine players, armed to the teeth, marched on Herobrine's castle, or as they had begun to call it, The Citadel. Each wore diamond or iron armor, with diamond swords and flint and steel. A few old-timers carried buckets with water, but most had their inventories chock filled with bows and arrows or dirt blocks for quick building. As they neared The Citadel, many began to lose their energy and anger and were instead filled with hopelessness.

The walls were ten blocks high and appeared to be three blocks wide, made with nigh impenetrable obsidian. On the wall, iron bars and cacti kept anyone from scaling them and were patrolled by slimes and magma cubes. The seemingly only entrance was an oak gate, powered by pistons. This too was guarded, this time by skeletons. Rising above the entire fortress was a huge tower with a beacon shining a bright beam through the roof.

"How can we hope to get through _that_?" moaned AvidCrafter, an almost 24/7 player.

"We have to try," replied Steve sternly.

"We're with you, Steve," crazygamer said miserably. "To the end, if need be."

"Minecraft Forever!" called Minecraft4Eva. She raised her sword half-heartedly and a few others joined in.

* * *

"And here we are," Lopez said grimly as they neared the gates, standing almost thirty blocks away. With a shudder of pistons, the oak gates slid open and an army of at least a few hundred zombies marched out. Each carried an iron sword and they wore a motley collection of armor.

"Get ready!" Steve shouted. The others drew their swords or bows and engaged the zombies, crossing blades or notching arrows. They managed to hold the enemy at bay for a short while, but Steve knew it wouldn't last. He was right. As the zombie horde reached about half its initial number, a flood of spider jockeys—skeletons mounted on giant arachnids—poured out into the battlefield. Players were shot, poisoned and crushed by the onslaught. But it wasn't over. Endermen, those cruel, wily creatures, teleported among the ranks, leaving charged creepers behind. A battalion of wither skeletons and witches attacked from behind, decimating those in the rear. To add insult to injury, ghasts and withers attacked from above, dropping fireballs and exploding wither skulls. The players didn't stand a chance. Before escape was on their minds, the army was obliterated. Not a single soldier remained.

* * *

When Steve respawned, he wasn't in his bed. There were no cobblestone walls around him or torches giving flickering light. Instead, he was by the ocean with a small group of others.

"Our home beds must be destroyed," castleking, a veteran concluded.

"We can't hope to beat them!" someone wailed.

"We can," Steve said. "But we'll need to fight smart. Use tactics, enchanted weapons, that stuff."

"We did that; they still beat us!" Minecraft4Eva pointed out.

"I know," Steve sighed. "Which is why…I hate to say this…but we need to use cheats."

* * *

"Let me get this straight," said Godhead, the moderator. "There is some sort of new mob or bug that as created an army. And you need me to grant you bonuses to defeat them?"

"That's about it," said Steve, who had lead the group of ten, Minecraft4Eva, Lopez, crazygamer, AvidCrafter, ipwnuall, plsdontkill, swordcraft, glade8or and castleking.

"I'm not supposed to favor any groups," Godhead mused. "But you seem honest."

"Then teleport the rest here and we can do it all together…if you help," AvidCrafter pleaded.

"This is the first time that you have all voluntarily worked together," Godhead decided. "Wish granted." With a flash, about thirty others appeared inside Godhead's castle.

"Where are the others?" Lopez asked.

"This is all of them," Godhead told him. "The others must have left."

"Alright then," Steve said. "Let's get to work."

* * *

The group of players were different now. They were united together to stand against a common enemy. Work went twice as fast with large groups to help. Mining, crafting, experimenting, everyone had a skill. Soon, iron, stone, diamond, redstone and gunpowder, along with others, began to pile up.

"Alright people," Steve called out to the group. "I know we have every reason to be afraid. This enemy is bigger, faster, stronger…we don't even know if it has limits! But, when we work together, _we_ become faster and stronger and driven. And I know that our friendship has no limits either. So let's go kick some mob!"

There was a collective cheer as the considerably smaller group march out to do battle with their enemy.

* * *

The nervousness from the first attack was no longer. Each player glowed with light from the enhancements granted them by Godhead. Their assorted status affects included regeneration, resistance, health and more. Each had his or her inventory full of items, but this time each had a special plan. As they neared the Citadel, Endermen began teleporting in and out of them.

"Now!" Steve shouted and each player threw down a bucket, driving off the Endermen.

"Dispensers!" Steve roared and Lopez and plsdontkill ran forward. Plsdontkill turned out to be a natural redstonist and Lopez had plenty of experience. About thirty blocks from the gate, they built a contraption which began firing fire charges at the oak entrance.

"Cannons!" Steve bellowed and still more built basic TNT cannons which flung the explosives over the obsidian walls. Marching out the gates came legions of zombies and wither skeletons, all wielding swords.

"Golems!" came the order from Steve and each player placed the familiar iron t-pattern with a pumpkin on top. The iron golems lurched into battle, each swinging and throwing multiple enemies in a single hit. Things were beginning to look up. Then, the spider jockeys began swarming over the walls. Several players continued to monitor the cannons and fire blaster. The others withdrew special items from their inventories. They could not hope to defeat ranged enemies with swords so they threw ender pearls, teleporting behind the jockeys and slaying them with swords. The sheer size of this cavalry meant it took time, but eventually the skeletal ranks thinned. Soon, however, creepers began to emerge from behind them in an attempted sneak attack.

"Cats!" Steve called and swarms of tamed ocelots came from hiding, scaring away the explosive creatures.

"I think we can do this," Steve muttered to Minecraft4Eva as he cut through a zombie.

"I never doubted it," she replied as she decapitated another. There was a cruel laugh as a small group of witches attacked. As if controlled by someone else, each player spawned snow golems and called forth their wolves, whose combined efforts held the witches at bay.

"Arial attack!" swordcraft cautioned. Several withers and ghasts flew over the walls.

"Man the cannons! Get out bows!" glade8or barked.

"Fire!" came the call from castleking. Ghasts and withers alike were struck by flaming arrows, potions and TNT.

"Alright!" cheered AvidCrafter as his arrow struck a wither.

"Booyah!" he and castleking high-fived.

"Um…guys?" Minecraft4Eva warned. "We've got company."

* * *

A shadow darkened the sky as the Ender Dragon soared over the wall. He flew low to the ground towards the players, destroying their cannons and making their water trickle away. Flying up, he turned and dove at the ground, aiming right for Steve.

"I got him!" Steve called. "Eva?"

"Here!" Minecraft forever tossed him an ender pearl which he activated and tossed up at the dragon. He reappeared right at the tail, which he scrambled down to the base. Reaching the neck of the Ender Dragon, he took out a pig saddle and placed it in the crook, riding the dragon like a horse.

"Come on!" he shouted and flew towards the wall, destroying the obsidian blocks that held his forces out. The players surged forward, their wounds healing. He pulled the dragon to the ground and AvidCrafter, Minecraft4Eva, castleking, Lopez, ipwnuall, glade8or, swordcraft and two others all boarded and they flew up to the tower.

"We've got the slimes and magma cubes!" plsdontkill shouted. Steve nodded and they landed on the roof of the tower, jumping off the dragon. Walking through the first door, they were confronted by two blazes and a silverfish.

"You know what to do!" Steve said. They poured out buckets of lava, then water, trapping their foes in obsidian. They continued, entering a long, gloomy hall. At the other end was a huge throne. And reclining on the throne…was Herobrine.

* * *

"Let's do this!" plsdontkill shouted as he switched his bow for a sword. He attacked a nearby slime, which split into three more. He struck each one of these, each of which died.

"This is gonna be hard," godofthunder told him.

"Not necessarily," plsdontkill grinned. At a nod, another player, BigBang, flicked a switch and blew up half of the slimes.

"Fire attacks!" plsdontkill told the players. The group drew flint and steel or fire charges. They made short work of the opposing cubes.

"That was easier than I thought," godofthunder commented. There was a roar and a large building exploded, revealing a twelve block tall giant. The same happened throughout the Citadel, revealing ten giants.

"I spoke too soon."

* * *

"Herobrine," Steve growled. "You are charged with destruction of player's homes, mass murder and consorting with hostiles. Come peacefully or else."

"Or else…what?" Herobrine smirked. He disappeared in a flash of purple and reappeared with a sword at Lopez's throat.

"Kill him!" Lopez cried before the blade pushed further, killing him.

"No!" AvidCrafter yelled. He aimed an arrow at Herobrine, but it struck air. Herobrine reappeared at the foot of the throne.

"Here's my deal," Herobrine said coldly. "Leave now, but give me everything in your inventories. Make homes in the end or underground, I don't care. Surrender while I still allow it."

"Go to the Nether," Steve growled the fight began. Herobrine leapt into the air, swinging his sword around. As he hit the ground, a huge shockwave rippled out, toppling the players. Minecraft4Eva and AvidCrafter dropped the arrows they were notching and castleking almost lost his grip on his preferred axe and pickaxe. Swordcraft, glade8or and ipwnuall all charged, waving their swords and bellowing battle cries. In a fluid movement, Herobrine ducked under swordcraft and snapped his arm, impaled glade8or and decapitated ipwnuall. Swordcraft fell to the floor screaming. Minecraft4Eva managed a shot to Herobrine's arm, but he teleported and the arrow fell to the floor, tipped with blood. AvidCrafter and Minecraft4Eva both attacked Herobrine as he reappeared, wielding their swords. With one arm bleeding, he elbowed AvidCrafter, tripped up Minecraft4Eva and knocked them both to the floor. Now only castleking, Steve and two others remained standing. Castleking swung his axe high at Herobrine while swinging the pickaxe low. The axe was deflected and the pickaxe missed. Now wielding only a broken axe and his bucket of water, castleking flung the axe at Herobrine, who dodged it easily and punched castleking out the window. The two other players followed. Herobrine and Steve glared daggers at each other. Steve made the first move.

"LOPEZ!" he shouted as a battle cry and swung his sword. Herobrine teleported away and reappeared behind. Steve was knocked forward and backward in a swirl of purple as Herobrine used his teleporting to deadly effect. Steve's sword clattered to the ground and he was face to face with a blade. Herobrine raised the sword to strike, when suddenly, an arrow sprouted from his chest. Standing in the windowsill was Lopez, glade8or and ipwnuall, all wielding bows.

"You called?" Lopez grinned.

* * *

With a cry, plsdontkill was knocked from a building roof as a giant smashed the structure. He was joined at the street with godofthunder and BigBang.

"How do you beat a giant?" godofthunder asked.

"TNT?" BigBang guessed.

"No…" plsdontkill tried to remember. "Lava!" The trio drew buckets of lava and poured it on the ground. Sure enough, the giants couldn't move in the lava and slowly burned to death.

"Yes!" they cheered.

* * *

Steve slammed Herobrine to the foot of the throne. He shoved a blade under his enemy's chin.

"Give me one reason," he snarled.

"You think you can beat me that easily?" Herobrine sneered.

"You're a glitch!" Steve told him

"No," retorted Herobrine. "I'm _the_ glitch." In a flash of purple and a whoosh as a vacuum was created , he disappeared.

"A job well done, players," came a voice from behind. Turning, Steve saw Godhead, who had appeared seemingly from nowhere (which is very possible). "Uniting, you were able to defeat Herobrine and all of his minions.

"But he's still out there!" Steve said in dispair.

"There will always be enemies out there," replied Godhead. "It is your job to protect your homes. And you have done this well."

"Now we just have to rebuild them," glade8or groaned.

"If you work together," Godhead said, "it'll be done in a heartbeat."

* * *

Once again, Steve looked out over the landscape. Now, instead of explosions, smoke and destruction, an enormous city had risen from the ground. Stone towers, buildings, homes, churches, barracks and forges stood proudly and bravely. The foundations of the Citadel had been blown apart and buried in lava to prevent any growth. In the streets of the new city, players, villagers, dogs, cats, and golems alike roamed and mingled. On each wall, patrols observed the city and surrounding country watchfully. Finally, his gaze fell upon the gate. It was made from oak trees and had a simple wooden sign hanging over it.

_Welcome to Minecraft, Where The Greatest Warriors Respawn._

* * *

That was kinda random, but it'd been in my head a while. It'll probably become a series.

Please review.

-Jangling Bacon


End file.
